Rise of Islam and the Early Caliphate

In 610, a merchant in Mecca said he had heard God’s call. Within about a century, his followers ruled lands from Spain to Central Asia. Few turning points in history moved so fast.

This lesson follows Islam from its Arabian roots to the early caliphate. It ends with the Umayyads and the Abbasids, which exams often mix up.

1What was Arabia like before Islam?

Arabs lived in tribes called qabila. Each tribe had a chief. He was chosen for courage, wisdom and generosity, and not by birth alone.

Many Arabs were Bedouins. They moved between oases in search of food and fodder for their camels. Others lived in trading towns.

Each tribe had its own gods, shown as idols. Mecca held many of them at the Kaba shrine. The city sat on a trade route linking Yemen and Syria. Muhammad’s tribe, the Quraysh, controlled the Kaba.

Historians rely on chronicles, like the one by Tabari. They check each report through isnad. That is a chain tracing a report back to its first narrator.

• Tribe = qabila, led by a chief.
• Mecca: trade route and the Kaba shrine.
• Muhammad’s tribe: the Quraysh.
• Source check: isnad.

2Who was Muhammad and what did he build?

Muhammad was born about 570. At about 40, in c. 610, he reported his first revelation. He had been praying in a cave on Mount Hira.

He began to preach in public around 613. His message was simple. God is One. Allah alone should be worshipped.

He drew believers into a community called the umma. It rested on shared belief, not on family ties.

Opposition grew. In 622, Muhammad and his followers moved from Mecca to Medina. This journey is the Hijra. It marks year one of the Islamic calendar.

In Medina, he united tribes under a pact called the Constitution of Medina. Later, he took Mecca with very few deaths. He died in 632. By then, most of Arabia had accepted Islam.

• First revelation: about 610.
• Public preaching: about 613.
• Hijra: 622, Mecca to Medina.
• Death: 632.

3How did the Rightly Guided Caliphs expand the state?

Muhammad’s death left a question. Who would lead? The community created a new office, the caliph. The first four caliphs ruled from 632 to 661. They are called the Rashidun.

Abu Bakr ruled first, for 27 months. He crushed the tribal revolts that broke out at once. These are the Ridda wars.

Umar came next, from 634 to 644. Under the early caliphs, Arab armies took Syria, Iraq, Iran and Egypt. The conquest of Persia was finished in 651.

The two great neighbours were weak. Byzantium and Sasanian Iran had exhausted themselves in long wars. Arab armies met rivals that were already tired.

• Rashidun era: 632-661.
• Order: Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali.
• Abu Bakr: Ridda wars.
• Persia fully conquered by 651.

4Why did civil war break out?

Uthman was the third caliph. He favoured his own clan, the Umayyads, in appointments. Anger grew. He was assassinated in 656.

Ali became the fourth caliph. He faced rivals in the first civil war, called the First Fitna. At the battle of Siffin, Muawiya’s Syrian army asked for arbitration. Ali agreed, but some of his own men turned against him.

These men became known as the Kharijites. Ali beat them at Nahrawan in 658. Even so, a Kharijite assassinated him in 661.

Muawiya, the long-time governor of Syria, then became caliph. He founded the Umayyad dynasty.

• Uthman killed in 656.
• Siffin: arbitration split Ali’s camp.
• Splinter group: the Kharijites.
• Ali killed in 661; Muawiya becomes caliph.

5How were the conquered lands governed?

Caliphs sent governors, called amirs, into each province. Tribal chiefs, called ashraf, worked beside them. A central treasury, the bait al-mal, collected taxes.

Soldiers did not move into old cities. They settled in new camp cities on the desert’s edge. Kufa and Basra were two of these. Kufa was founded in 638, in Umar’s reign.

Jews and Christians kept their faith and property. In return, they paid taxes such as jizya. They were called dhimmis, or protected subjects.

• Governors: amirs; chiefs: ashraf.
• Treasury: bait al-mal.
• Camp cities: Kufa and Basra.
• Protected subjects: dhimmis, paying jizya.

6What did the Umayyads change?

The Umayyad dynasty ruled from 661 to 750. Muawiya moved the capital to Damascus. Syria became the heart of the state.

He also set up hereditary rule. His son was named heir. The old way of choosing a caliph faded.

Abd al-Malik was the great reformer. He made Arabic the language of the bureaucracy. Before, Greek and Persian had been used. He also brought in a single Islamic currency in place of Byzantine and Sasanian coins.

He ordered the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. It was built in 691-692 and is among the earliest great works of Islamic architecture.

• Umayyads: 661-750, capital Damascus.
• Hereditary succession began with Muawiya.
• Abd al-Malik: Arabic in office, one Islamic coinage.
• Dome of the Rock: 691-692.

7How did the Abbasids take over?

The Abbasid revolution began in Khorasan, in the east. Many people were unhappy with Umayyad rule. A well-organised movement spread the call for change.

The Abbasids were descendants of al-Abbas, an uncle of the Prophet. They overthrew the Umayyads in 750.

They wanted a new capital. In 762, al-Mansur ordered the building of Baghdad. It rose on the Tigris, near the old Sasanian capital Ctesiphon. Iranian advisers helped guide the work.

Under the Abbasids, Iranian culture grew more important in government. The Umayyads had been more Arab in character.

• Revolt began in Khorasan; Umayyads fall in 750.
• Abbasids: descendants of al-Abbas.
• Baghdad: 762, by al-Mansur.
• More Iranian influence in government.

8What are the exam traps?

• The Hijra is 622. Do not mix it with 610 or 632.
• The order is Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali. Ali was fourth.
• Umayyads ruled from Damascus. Abbasids ruled from Baghdad.
• Al-Walid I sanctioned the Sindh expedition. So this story touches Indian history too.